BACA WANTS STATE, FEDS TO FUND REFORMS.

Byline: Gina Keating Staff Writer

MONTEREY PARK - Sheriff Lee Baca said Wednesday that he's counting on the state and federal governments to pick up some of the tab for his 30-year, $1 billion plan to revamp and expand the Sheriff's Department.

At a news conference at the department's Monterey Park headquarters, Baca said the plan, called LASD2, is nearly ready to present to the Board of Supervisors, which approves the department's budget and hiring proposals.

Baca said he's already secured $300 million from state, federal and county sources to carry out large chunks of the plan, which he formulated with input from sworn and civilian employees and guidance from IBM consultants.

The three decades of proposed reforms to the department's community programs, personnel, facilities and fiscal and technical operations will be overseen by four commanders appointed ``for life.''

The changes range from switching the colors of uniforms and patrol cars to adding a new jail to allow pregnant women in custody to care for their infants and small children.

Baca called his plan ``practical common sense to meet the needs of a public that is ever changing and frustrated by the excuses of bureaucracy.''

The plan evolved during a season of public discontent over law enforcement scandals nationwide. Baca alluded to reforms under way in other major cities.

``I'm trying to get in front of the problems that have plagued us,'' he told reporters.

Baca thinks he can pay for the plan's big-ticket items - employee salaries and benefits and 25 new substations - through existing funding programs at the state, county and federal levels.

But he'll try to shift responsibility for two of the department's most vexing and expensive problems - inmates who are illegal immigrants or mentally ill - to the federal and state governments.

The sheriff said has already met with members of President-elect George W. Bush's transition team to request more funding for jailing illegal immigrants who break the law and for a study on how much they cost the county.

``The federal government has the responsibility to pay 100 percent of the cost for these problems,'' Baca said.

Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich said he supports Baca's proposal to hire a full-time lobbyist to chase federal funds to replace the estimated $83 million cost to the county of jailing illegal-immigrant lawbreakers.

``The Clinton administration did absolutely zero on helping local governments on this issue,'' Antonovich said. ``The U.S. attorney should aggressively pursue prosecution of these people . . . and they should be incarcerated in federal prisons.''

Illegal immigrants make up about 30 percent of the county's 19,000 inmates, said Chief Taylor Moorehead, who oversees the jail system.

Baca said state lawmakers must do more to keep the mentally ill from cycling through county jails at an annual cost to the county of about $50 million, including $10 million for psychiatric medication.

The sheriff, who has a doctorate in public administration, said he has yet to identify funding for about two-thirds of his goals but appeared optimistic that money would not be a stumbling block.

``Money comes because you have successfully planned,'' he said.

Sheriff's Department officials anticipated that Baca would present the plan to the board in about three weeks.